


A Day Off

by Beleriandings



Category: The Silmarillion and other histories of Middle-Earth - J. R. R. Tolkien
Genre: Fluff, Gen, Gondolin, The lords of Gondolin are actually giant dorks, silliness
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-03-07
Updated: 2015-03-07
Packaged: 2018-03-16 19:51:48
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 924
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3500780
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Beleriandings/pseuds/Beleriandings
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Glorfindel is certain that Ecthelion works too hard.</p>
            </blockquote>





	A Day Off

It was just after dawn when Glorfindel woke and went to stand before his window. He looked down at the meticulously planned view of the garden, and thought how summer mornings like this seemed to suit Gondolin the best. The city was made for such days, with the flowers around the greensward just beginning to open to the pale golden sunlight, the blue sky arcing overhead.

 _So why_ , he thought, tilting his head to listen,  _was someone out there in the city playing a song that sounded so sad?_

He stood still for a while, just listening. The song truly was heart-wrenching, a solemn lament that Glorfindel thought he recognised, vaguely. It had words, he thought, but no one was singing them. Instead, he could hear the muffled strains of the flute, coming from the other side of the stone courtyard.

That told him all he needed to know. With a sigh, he dressed quickly and went to seek out the source of the music.

"Ecthelion!" he banged his fist against the door, and the sounds of the flute stopped promptly.

"What?" said a reluctant voice, after a while.

"What are you doing playing something so dreadfully dreary and miserable on such a beautiful day?" he asked the closed door. "And this early in the morning too?"

The door opened, and Ecthelion stood there, fully dressed already and holding his flute, frowning and looking quite uncomfortable. “It’s my  _day off._ ”

It was all Glorfindel could do not to laugh. “You say that as though it were some terrible ordeal. And anyway, since when have you taken days off? Aren’t you normally out at the Gate, or prowling the walls tirelessly by this hour of the morning?”

” _Exactly_ " said Ecthelion morosely. "Turgon - much as I value his friendship and respect his decisions as our king - has some very wrong-headed notions involving me working too hard."

"What, because you haven’t taken a day off since he appointed you keeper of the Gate? That sounds to me as though he might be right."

"I took a day off once!"

Glorfindel raised a sceptical eyebrow. “Really? When?”

"When…" Ecthelion thought for a moment. "When we first came here and they were still finishing the Gatehouse!"

"That doesn’t count and you know it."

Ecthelion rolled his eyes, bouncing restlessly on the balls of his feet. “Alright. Fine. But what am I supposed to  _do_  with this day?” He poked Glorfindel in the chest with his flute. “It’s only dawn and already I’m wondering if the Gate has been breached, if the Enemy and his minions will stream through into the city…”

"Ecthelion." It was Glorfindel’s turn to roll his eyes. "That is not going to happen."

"If there was not chance of it happening, then why would Turgon appoint  _me_ , his most trusted Lord - “

"That is a matter for debate - "

"Why would he appoint me to guard the Gate? Why would he have the city walls constantly guarded, why would - "

"Oh  _honestly_ " sighed Glorfindel. "You’re worse than he is sometimes, and I say that with the greatest possible respect to our dear king Turgon. But both of you need to relax a little more. Learn to embrace your occasional days off." He eyed the flute in Ecthelion’s hand. "It’s certainly not a matter of lament and tragedy."

"I was practising" huffed Ecthelion.

"Yes, but the most haunting ballads of Maglor Fëanorion are not quite the thing for summer mornings like today, don’t you agree? Less death and tragedy, more flowers and sunlight."

"There’s already flowers and sunlight out there" said Ecthelion, nodding out of the window. He sighed. "Fine. If you object to me practising, let’s go orc hunting, outside the walls. I could do with an expedition. Pack up your sword and arrows and I’ll saddle the horses, and we can leave before - "

"Ecthelion." Glorfindel sighed. "I returned to the city just yesterday from after two weeks of hunting for spies of the Enemy outside the Echoriath. It is my day off, too, in a way." He smiled winningly. "Let’s do something  _fun_.”

Ecthelion narrowed his eyes suspiciously. “What counts as fun?”

"Well, you know how you are the Lord of the Fountain…"

———-

"Admit it" said Glorfindel, a few hours later, as Ecthelion dived past him pursued by a small swarm of children intent on splashing him, "this was a good idea of mine."

"I admit" said Ecthelion grudgingly, bobbing his head up from beneath the cool, clear water. The day was warm now, growing towards hot, but the waters of the fountain were always cool, and deep enough to swim in. "That yes, this was a somewhat good idea. Perhaps."

"Nonsense" said Glorfindel, watching from the stone rim of the largest pool as a little dark-haired girl came up behind Ecthelion and splashed him so that he blinked and shook his hair out in a spray of water. "You’re having the very best day off. You just won’t admit it, you stubborn -  _augh!_ ”

He flailed in the water as Ecthelion knocked him neatly into the fountain by the ankles, his head coming up with golden hair slicked like a sodden curtain across his face. He scraped his hair from his eyes, to see Ecthelion, treading water as what looked like half the children in Gondolin clustered around, sniggering and looking on in amusement.

"And that, my dear Glorfindel" said Ecthelion, smiling far too smugly for Glorfindel’s liking, "is why you should always be watchful, even…" he splashed Glorfindel once again, "…on one’s day off. Most especially then."

**Works inspired by this one:**

  * [[Podfic] A Day Off by Beleriandings](https://archiveofourown.org/works/5299541) by [pumpkinpodfic (thegreatpumpkin)](https://archiveofourown.org/users/thegreatpumpkin/pseuds/pumpkinpodfic)




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